I rebuilt the old blog that I took down a few months ago after I realized that it has been a nice chronicle of my children’s lives. I decided that I should continue to use it in the future as it will always be a nice source for reliving past events and memories for the entire family for a lifetime. Many of the old posts have been permanently deleted, but even though my family has been changed permanently by choices made by others through marital infidelity, it shouldn’t and won’t preclude my family from continued happiness in the years to come. After reading some of the old posts, I realized (after the fact) that I had used this same title in a post on February of this year. It seems like it has been an eternity since then and I had to ask myself if it was 10 months ago or 22.
We have been forced to move on with our lives and while the last two years have been a roller coaster for my entire family, we are starting to get our feet firmly back on the ground and enjoy the life that God has given us. Despite the challenges we face, life must go on and as such, I have made the decision to move to the “city” so that my children can enjoy a life closer to their friends and their school.
I am also hopeful that I will be able to save in fuel costs for my commuting travels. Last year, I realized over 21,000 miles on my new Ford Flex that was purchased in late April (This includes our great family trip to the Boundry Waters last August!). That amounts to an average of 2,625 miles a month or 87.5 miles a day. I kept track of my fuel costs for the year and they amounted to a whopping $7,100. Granted, some of this cost was for my home manager to pick up kids after school and drive them home, fuel for the lawn mower, gator and pick up etc., but nonetheless it has taken a toll on our life, both in time and in money. Additionally, we have been living in a home that is costly to maintain with a single income and is too big and quiet when the kids are gone for days at a time. The family dreams of living there have been taken away by selfish choices, but new dreams are starting to take the place of the lost ones of the past. At this time, I plan on trying my best to do what is best for the children and it seems like this move makes good sense.
My vision of the future is still murky, but I have done my best at trying to not look too far into the distance. Two years ago, I couldn’t imagine ANY future. As time went on and the hurt slowly faded, I was able to see a day in the future, then a week and now I can see several months in the future when planning my life and the life of my children.
Our new home for now is Manitowoc, WI. Our family home in Steinthal will still be a part of our lives for many years to come, I believe. We may even end up living there again in the future, but perhaps with a more scaled-back lifestyle. That decision will depend on a variety of factors that have yet to be completely determined. In the mean time, I am working on cutting back in many aspects of my life and hope that over time I can rid myself of many of the needless possessions that have accumulated over the years. I spent so much of my life maintaining my family’s possessions that it consumed nearly all my time. It really took a toll on me towards the end. Time to get back to living!
